


you've got nothing left to lose (i have even less than you)

by snaeken



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Soulmates, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:47:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21886909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snaeken/pseuds/snaeken
Summary: After everything that’s happened in Beacon Hills, Theo really shouldn’t be surprised soulmates exist. He just never thought he would have one of his own.Story is based onthis wonderful artbytheraeken on tumblr. Give their art some love!
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40
Collections: 2019 Thiam Reverse Big Bang





	you've got nothing left to lose (i have even less than you)

**Author's Note:**

> In the spirit of posting something rather than nothing, here's the first couple of thousand words.  
>  **This story is not yet complete, so don't feel obliged to read or leave kudos/comments**

**Loop 3**

The preserve is quiet at this time of night, as peaceful as can be considering the circumstances. The animals haven’t quite worked out it’s safe for them to come out again yet, despite the Anuk-ite’s blanket of fear slowly but surely dissipating over the course of the day. The only sounds to be heard are those of the wind jostling the trees and blowing leaves across the ground, and the current of the stream beneath him; the stream where his sister died all those years ago.

Looking down at how shallow it is now, it almost seems impossible that someone could drown in it. Theo could stand up in it easily now. She was hurt though, and younger and smaller than he is now, and although she may not have been alone when she was dying, there was nobody there to help her.

He sighs, bearing his weight down on the bridge as he rests his chin on top of his hands, staring down into the water, hoping the steady current might be able to give him the answers he’s looking for, the perfect formula to stop the people he cares about getting hurt.

Liam died again today.

It isn’t the first time and more than likely it won’t be the last. No matter what Theo does, every time they reach that damned hospital, Liam loses his life. Whether it be from a stray bullet - or an intentional bullet -, or being captured and killed, or some other convoluted scheme Monroe and her hunters have, it all leads to the same outcome.

Every time hurts just as badly as the first time.

He’ll never forget the look on Gabe’s face as he opened fire on him and Liam, as he permanently stained the hospital’s floor red in his mind with Liam’s blood.

Theo woke up the next day, expecting to have to deal with the aftermath of Monroe’s merry band of murderers, with the death of a friend, and instead had to deal with something very different indeed.

He had to drag himself out of the ground, Liam wielding Kira’s sword, Hayden shooting him a frightened glance from against the wall.

He was almost too shocked to react, until the sight of Kira’s sword sent him into autopilot.

Theo had heard of soulmates, of course.

He always assumed they were an urban myth though, something silly and fanciful - and _fictional_ \- for people who don’t lead lives like his. The Dread Doctors had some information on the phenomenon, however the concept was of little interest to neither them or Theo. Love is a weakness, first and foremost. Nothing could possibly be more stupid than opening yourself up to weakness. And yet.

Also, it’s very difficult to actually prove the existence of soulmates. One person being thrown into a recurring time loop if their soulmate dies always sounded like nonsense to Theo.

Maybe it wasn’t.

The first awful realisation he had was that Liam Dunbar is his soulmate.

The second was that he would have to live through it all again; the Wild Hunt, Monroe and her hunters, the Anuk-ite.

The third was that unless he stopped it, Liam was going to die again.

He looks down over the bridge at his reflection and he doesn't like what he sees. His shoulder has healed (again) but there’s still a fleck of blood on his cheek. He knows for a fact it isn’t his. He doesn't see someone who's confident and in control. No, he sees that same scared little boy staring back at him like he did all those years ago. He sees weakness. He sees inadequacy.

He sees failure.

Four times now, he’s tried and failed to stop Liam from dying. Four times he’s had to watch the light leave his eyes, hear Lydia’s ear-piercing banshee scream.

His feet nearly brush the water as the bridge is so low. Looking at it now, it almost doesn't seem possible that this is the same place where Tara drowned. It just doesn't seem deep enough, frightening enough. But it is. He would know, considering he helped the Dread Doctors kill her.

He wishes he could have been as strong back then as he is now. Maybe he could have stopped it all from happening.

Then again, his so-called strength has hardly helped him for the past four loops, has it? Hopefully the loop doesn’t run out. Hopefully, once he finally falls asleep tonight, the loop will have reset and he can try again.

Hopefully he’ll have another chance to save Liam’s life.

Hopefully he’ll actually be able to succeed.

***

**Loop 0**

He grabs Liam by the arm, along with a bucket of keys, and drags him out of the station and to one of the police vehicles. The Sheriff was just taken before their eyes, it won’t be long before they forget he ever existed. Theo jumps into the driver’s side and slams the door, dumping the bucket in Liam’s lap.

“Keys, keys!”

“Are you serious?” Liam asks, digging through the bucket and handing over a key. “Here!”

Theo jams it into the slot but it doesn’t fit, so he tosses it down and impatiently holds out his hand. “Give me another!”

“Which one?”

“Any of them! Come on!”

“There's a lot of keys here!” Liam snarks.

“I really feel like you're not even trying right now, Liam,” Theo snarks back, tossing another incorrect key down.

“I'm trying!” Liam shouts, handing him another key.

“No. Come on, Liam, give me anoth-” Theo looks down at the key in his hands and then throws them up in frustration. “This isn't even a car key!” Liam hands him another key. “That's a small key, that's too small, too small! Come on!”

Theo can feel himself starting to panic. The Ghost Riders are approaching fast and Theo has no desire to see what the Wild Hunt is like on the end of those who have been taken. He’s tried too hard to survive for it all to end now.

“Okay, here, take this one!”

Theo tries the key and grins at Liam as the ignition roars to life.

“Whoa! Yes! Go, go, go!” Liam shouts, banging his hands on the dashboard.

The tyres squeal as Theo reverses, the vehicle rocking as Theo inadvertently runs over one of the Ghost Riders. They glance at each other, grins splitting their faces. Theo throws the car into forward, racing away from the police station as the Ghost Riders get smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.

Of course, their victory doesn’t last long.

They’re on the Ghost Riders’ radar now, and they won’t stop until Liam and Theo have been captured. It goes against everything he believes in, but right now hiding seems like the best option. Liam directs him to the hospital and he involuntarily shudders at the mere sight of it; Liam shoots him a questioning look but Theo ignores him.

When they get there Liam heads right for an ambulance that is lying abandoned out front, much to Theo’s confusion. “Liam, come on. We don’t have much of a lead on them.” He curses, eyes widening when Liam sets off the ambulance’s siren. “What the hell are you doing?” he asks, running towards it.

“Don't! Don't turn it off.”

“You want to bring them all here?” Theo snaps. “Every single one of them?”

“That's exactly what I want to do,” Liam says, having the gall to look pleased with himself. “Because if the Ghost Riders are here, that means they're not trying to get to Scott.”

Theo scoffs. “So you don't care if they get to you?”

“They're gonna get to all of us eventually,” Liam shrugs.

“You!” Theo says, shoving him. Of course Liam would try to blindly save Scott, even if it means putting himself in danger. The only issue with his plan is that he’s dragged _Theo_ into it too. “You're going first! That's the only reason I'm with you. Because while they're busy wrapping a whip around your neck, or shooting a hole in your head, I'll be running the other direction. I'm on your side as long it helps me.”

Liam huffs, and Theo isn’t sure he imagined the brief flash of disappointment crossing his features when Liam says, “Trust me, I know.”

The hospital is deserted when they go inside. It’s wrong on so, so many levels, and while he might logically know Tara isn’t here this time, that she isn’t going to appear round the next corner and reclaim her stolen heart, he can’t quite quench his anxiety.

“Theo?”

Theo drags himself out of his thoughts and looks at Liam. “I’m fine. Just thought I was somewhere else for a second.”

“Where?”

“In a bad dream,” he mutters. “You said you knew where to hide.”

Liam nods, “Follow me.”

“ _This_ is your brilliant idea?” Theo snaps, trying to stop his anxiety levels from spiking as he looks around the room, a perfect replica of his memories. “To barricade ourselves in the morgue?

“The Ghost Riders go after the living,” Liam shrugs, pushing a cabinet up against the door. “So we hide with the dead.”

Theo has no intention of going inside one of those drawers ever again. He can feel the panic starting to rise inside him and he viciously quashes it down before Liam can notice.

“I'm not getting in one of those.”

“Me neither,” Liam says. “So we’ll just have to hide and hope for the best.”

“You should've left me in the holding cell,” Theo mutters.

“I should've left you in the ground,” Liam says.

Theo looks at him. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

“What do you think I was doing down there? Just hanging out with my dead sister? Having a good time catching up on childhood memories?”

“I think you were rotting down there.”

“Liam finally gets one thing right.”

“I also think whatever happened to you, you deserved it.”

“Is that right?”

Liam squares up to him. “When the Ghost Riders find us, I’m not going to do anything for you. I’m not going to help you. I’m not going to save you. I’m going to do exactly what you’d do to me. I’m going to use you as bait.”

It’s only when their argument is over that Theo realises how quiet it is. Too quiet.

“You still hear the ambulance?”

“What?”

“The siren, can you still hear it?” Theo asks, urgency seeping into his tone.

Something suspiciously like fear washes over Liam’s face for a brief second before he smothers it. “They’re here.”

It doesn’t take long for the Ghost Riders to reach them, their footsteps getting louder and louder.

Theo shoots Liam a look. “Hide with the dead?”

“It was worth a try,” Liam says.

They fight off Ghost Rider after Ghost Rider, Theo and Liam working surprisingly well together to take down their opponents. Finally being able to fight back in the hospital is more than a little thrilling for Theo. But of course, more Ghost Riders appear.

“They're everywhere,” Theo mutters.

“Good.”

“Really?” Theo looks at Liam, “You really need me to remind you that getting captured by the Ghost Riders isn't gonna help you save your friends?”

“We’re both going to get caught,” Liam says. “You can do it while you’re running. I’m going down fighting.”

And he will. Theo knows he will. He also knows that if either of them save Beacon Hills, it’s Liam.

Theo runs and opens the elevator, then grabs Liam from behind and shoves him inside, knocking him down in the process.

“What are you doing?” Liam shouts, sitting up.

Theo shoots him a trademark smirk. “Being the bait.”

“No!” Liam cries out, the elevator doors closing between them.

He’s done something good. The first good thing he’s done in a long time. He hopes it’s worth it.

The bares his fangs at the Ghost Riders, extends his claws, and charges.

***

**Loop 4**

_He's back in the darkness, in the locked drawer of the hospital morgue. He feels for the handle, pulling it back and forth desperately but it won't budge. He batters his fists against the door, panic rising in his chest despite his best attempts to quash it. Finally it comes off its hinges and Theo slides out, bursting into the corridor. Every footstep creates a splash, the floor slick with blood; instinctively he knows it’s Liam’s. It doesn’t matter where he runs, how many turns he takes, the exit never appears and he doesn’t know how to reach it._

_Liam is waiting for him around the next corner._

_"It’s your fault," Liam accuses._ _Blood pours from his chest, spreading across the floor._ _"You let them kill me, Theo."_

_"Please, Liam," Theo begs, backing up a few steps. Liam continues to advance, closing the distance Theo just made up. "I was trying to save you. I’ve been trying so hard to save you.”_

_"It’s your fault," Liam repeats, and rips his heart out._

Theo wakes to the feeling of something crawling on him. He sits up in a panic, knowing exactly what it is and that this loop is further on than the last one.

He’s too slow; the spider bites him and burrows under his skin, fear instantly gripping his - Tara’s - heart. He curses, slamming his fist down on his blanket once, twice, then moves into the driver’s seat and drives to the animal clinic.

He lets himself inside and takes himself through to the back, easily passing the mountain ash barrier, then removes his shirt and grabs a scalpel. He finds a mirror and looks over his shoulder, watching as the spider moves under his skin; he’s never let it stay under there long enough to find out what it’s trying to do inside him, although if the various ravaged corpses he’s seen during the loops are anything to go by, then he doesn’t want to know. He continues to watch the spider, anticipating its movements before jabbing the scalpel into his back. He allows himself to wince at the pain despite knowing it will heal, watching as the spider yet again bursts into a cloud of smoke and disappears.

He’s really not in the mood for this, not after having to watch Liam die again so recently, but he knows Monroe’s merry band of murderers will come for him tonight regardless of where he stops his truck. He can’t endanger any of the pack by asking them for help, and he definitely can’t take himself down to the sewers to avoid them, not after the second loop.

That time they grabbed Liam instead of him.

They may be massive pains in his backside, but seeing Jiang and Tierney’s bodies drawn and quartered outside the animal clinic the next morning was less than pleasant. He would rather avoid that situation happening again. He would definitely rather avoid seeing Liam’s body strung up outside the school again.

He texts the Sheriff, telling him when and where to find them later, making it clear not to come any earlier. He would tell the Sheriff to come while he’s being tortured, save himself some hassle, except Monroe has more firepower than the Sheriff does and most of his deputies are double agents. He can’t risk endangering the Sheriff’s life, who knows what sort of horror he might be replaced with.

When Theo regains consciousness after the hunters shoot up his truck and abduct him, he finds himself back in the warehouse that houses the hunters weapons cache. Jiang and Tierney are also tied up, bruised and bloody, their healing no doubt having been suppressed.

“Well well,” Schrader says, the smirk in his voice audible, “looks like sleeping beauty has finally woken.”

Theo growls lowly at him, just enough to raise Schrader’s hackles. Then Monroe appears from the shadows. “These are the ones?” she asks, pacing in front of them, smiling nonchalantly.

“The two on the end, yeah. They killed some of ours.” Schrader turns his attention to Theo. “This one was caught in his truck outside of an old factory. Deputies kept finding him sleeping in random places and chasing him off. Last night they finally took him in.”

Monroe looks at him and theatrically scratches her chin. “He doesn’t have a pack?”

“Guess you could say I’m a bit of a lone wolf,” Theo says, trademark smirk in place.

“You seem awfully put together for an omega,” Monroe ponders. “Unless it’s a recent thing.”

“It’s not,” Theo says. “People aren’t really fond of my personality.”

Monroe smiles. “I can’t imagine why.”

“Maybe because you were a psychopath,” Schrader says.

Monroe flicks her gaze to Schrader. “You know him?”

“Oh yeah,” Schrader says, overly smug. “I saw him when I worked at Eichen House. He came in with a group of other werecreatures one time, seemed to be their leader. Though his eyes weren’t red, so he wasn’t their alpha.”

“I do wonder,” Monroe says, “what colour your eyes are now.”

Theo flashes them, batting his eyelashes at her. “Just the usual pretty gold.”

He knows Monroe wants his eyes to be blue; he knows if it weren’t for the Dread Doctors experiments, they would be. He also knows the colour doesn’t really matter to Monroe. She turns back to Schrader. 

“You know what to do.”

“For all of them?”

“A wolf is a wolf,” Monroe says. “None are completely innocent.”

Schrader grins, “Damn right they aren’t.”

When Monroe begins walking away, he decides he may as well have a little fun with her too. “Tamora Monroe.”

Monroe goes rigid only for a short, satisfying moment, then stalks back over to him like a predator about to feast on its prey. A spike of fear rolls off of Jiang and Tierney.

“You called?” she purrs, pulling a knife from her waist and tracing it against Theo’s cheek. He can smell the wolfsbane on it and tries not to wrinkle his nose.

“You’re going to lose,” he says, giving her his best smirk.

Monroe laughs. “Not from where I’m standing, mutt.” She presses the blade down just slightly, millimetres away from breaking the flesh, then pulls away. “Schrader.”

Schrader grabs the remote, waiting for Monroe to leave before turning it on. Electricity surges through Theo’s body and he grits his teeth, struggling with his binds while Jiang and Tierney scream in pain. He needs more.

“That’s all you’ve got? Because I’m not impressed,” Theo says, goading Schrader into increasing the voltage. He gets his wish, another jolt goes through him and Theo pushes against the ties on his wrists. They’re getting weaker but he needs more.

“Come on, Schrader. Is that all you got?”

“What are you doing?” Tierney hisses. “Cut it out.”

Theo ignores her, continuing to goad Schrader into shocking them for longer, pushing the voltage higher, while he pulls against the ties on his wrists. He’s dizzy from the pain and he’s fairly sure Jiang has passed out. The only sign Tierney is still conscious is her ragged breaths between shocks. He’s close. He’s so close.

“Y’know,” Theo pants, trying to bring his blurred vision back into focus, “I’m really starting to see the appeal of electro stimulation.” He glances down at his crotch then sends Schrader the sleaziest grin he can muster. “You wanna help me out here?”

“You _goddamned mutt_ ,” Schrader snarls, veins bulging in his neck and forehead as he spins the voltage even higher. Theo’s vision goes black for a moment, then he’s falling forwards. His healing kicks in immediately, the current no longer inhibiting him, and he’s able to steady himself with a clawed hand on the ground. Schrader pales, realising he’s been played, and Theo knocks him unconscious before he can so much as move off the spot.

He hurries to turn the electricity off and frees Jiang and Tierney; to say they look a little worse for wear is an understatement.

“Get out of here,” he tells them. They don’t need to be told twice, scurrying towards the exit as fast as they can, Tierney supporting Jiang with an arm around his waist. With any luck, the Sheriff should be arriving right around now. Before that, though, there’s one thing left to take care of. He drags Schrader over to the electric fence, propping him up and tying him to it with zip ties.

“What are you…” Schrader slurs, instantly perking up once he sees the remote in Theo’s hand. His eyes widen in realisation and Theo smirks at him.

Schrader’s screams never stop being satisfying.


End file.
